Stripped of Human Rights

By
Dan Loehndorf
on January 3, 1997

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On January 8th, 1997, Melinda Holland-Arana was thoroughly groped by an older woman, and then led off to a room to be stripped by two others, all against her will. This abuse was authorized by Canadian Government policy.

The ticket for admission to Melinda’s personal horror show was nothing more than a business card from Hemp Mercantile, a Washington-based hemp store.

By Dan Loehndorf

??? Melinda and her two friends, Alexa Marsh and Andrea Johnson, hadbeen attempting to cross from the States into Canada, on their way to see a SmashingPumpkins concert, when the border guard became confused by their identification.

??? Alexa explained, “He asked if we were from Oregon, because we hadOregon licence plates, and we said, `No, we’re from Washington'”

??? The small inconsistency between their plates and their stated place oforigin was enough for the border guard to launch an investigation into the identities ofthe women in the car. It wasn’t enough for Melinda, who was driving, to explain that theywere students, two of them from Pacific Lutheran University in Washington, and that thecar was registered in Melinda’s home state of Oregon.

??? The identities of the women were soon confirmed: they were who theysaid they were, and they were from where they claimed to be from. But what would seem likea testimony to Melinda’s honesty and good character, was to the border guards anindication that she was attempting to cross the border with some kind of contraband.

??? Don’t try and understand the reasoning behind the decisions of theseofficers – it takes years of government training to identify a hardened criminal behindthe guise of an unassuming young university student. Besides, this ‘Melinda’ had alreadytried to trick them about where she lived. It didn’t take a criminal genius to figure outthat she was probably smuggling soviet fighter jets in the trunk of her car.

Which Came First?

??? “The customs officers came back out,” remembers Alexa,“and said ‘ladies, it looks like we have reasonable grounds to search yourvehicle.'”

??? But first Melinda and her friends were to be personally searched.Melinda recounts, “they made me put my hands against the wall and spread my legs andthey completely searched me. They didn’t leave a single part of my body untouched. Andthey were pushing on my breasts… they were pushing in on my breasts andeverything.” The officers found nothing.

Then they asked Melinda to empty her wallet for them, and that was when they found the“contraband”: a Hemp Mercantile business card. Melinda’s mother was laterenraged to discover that a business card was grounds for a search of the vehicle. Shetelephoned the officer in charge who claimed, incorrectly, that “…well, they sellpot in those stores.”

??? Obviously adept at tying temporal pretzels, the officer claimed that itwas the business card which gave them reasonable grounds to search the vehicle. Yet healso told Melinda’s mother on the telephone that he had found the business card in theglove-box of the car. And didn’t they tell the three women that the car was going to besearched before they even found the card? Which came first, the search or the reason forit?

Customs Officers Commit Vandalism

??? Alexa recounts how furiously the customs cops tore apart Melinda’s carafter finding the business card, like they had committed a crime to be punished byvandalism. “They picked apart stuff and trashed the whole car. Then they said, ?wefound a pipe and fourteen screens in the car. That’s paraphernalia.’ But the pipe didn’teven have a bowl on it.” According to Melinda and Alexa, they didn’t even know thatthe broken old pipe was in the car.

??? If Melinda was a soviet spy for confusing the officers about where shelived, then she had committed some form of treason for having a broken, bowlless pipe inthe car. The three women were read their rights and incarcerated in a holding cell. WhileAlexa and Andrea were allowed to remain in a cell together, Melinda was isolated andprepared for a strip search.

??? “I could hear Melinda in the next cell,” Alexa says,“The cop was telling her that if she had anything on her she might as well give it tothem now.” Alexa’s voice trembles as she tells what happened next, “Then theymade her take off all of her clothes, one by one.”

Search and Sleazure

??? Melinda remembers the incident all too well. “I was in a room bymyself and there were no windows, or even a window on the door. They told me to read thissign. It was about my rights while being searched. I sat down and I didn’t move. I justsat there with my hands on my knees. I didn’t want to put them in my pockets, because thatmight be cause to think I had something on me.”

??? They made Melinda read the sign aloud three times. Melinda sat down,and two female officers advanced on her and proceeded to strip search. They found nothing.

??? “Afterwards I was just mad… I couldn’t figure out why I had tobe strip-searched. They should have been able to feel something on my body when theysearched earlier. They didn’t make me go to the bathroom to see if there was somethinginside of me.” Only Melinda was singled out for a strip search, as her friendsweren’t searched.

??? If the officers truly found the Hemp Mercantile business card in theglove box of the car, then what singled out Melinda for a strip search? If a strip searchwas warranted for some other reason, then why wasn’t it warranted for all three of thewomen? If the officers thought Melinda was hiding something that couldn’t be found by aconventional search, then why didn’t they do an internal search?

Questions without Answers

??? I have spoken to the chief customs officer and the Canada CustomsPublic Relations office. There was much stonewalling by both customs authorities, althoughI did get an interesting admission – by way of denial – from the public relations officer,Merilin Coupis.

??? Ms Coupis contended that she was restricted from speaking about thecase because of privacy issues, so I spoke in generalities with her. She admitted to methat unless certain indicators are present, there is no grounds for searching a vehicle,and that people cannot even be held at the border for more than 5 or 10 minutes beforethey have been legally “detained” and must be read their rights to be heldlonger.

??? When I asked Ms Coupis whether a hemp card was considered an indicator,and if so, what kind, she said, “That’s a good question. I’m not going to answer thatright now.”

??? Many questions remain unanswered after Melinda’s aborted trip toCanada, “the true North strong and free.” Where strength consists of ganging upon and stripping young women of their clothes without just cause. Where freedom is a roomwithout windows, and a locked door.